Artist Statement

While initially known for his pictures of Buddha’s that have been created from stickers made up of pictures such as cars, Spiderman, a sickle from the Chinese Communist flag, and images culled from the web to highlight a central theme, it is his underlying understanding of a wide variety of issues and multiple points of view that highlight Gyatso as an artist. This vision coupled with understanding allows the viewer to see “fresh perspectives on the complex problems surrounding the rights of indigenous peoples in the contemporary world” based on his ability to show and communicate Tibetan cultural issues simply and yet powerfully.

Artist Biography

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Gonkar Gyatso is a Tibetan born British artist. Born in 1961 in Lhasa, Gonkar moved to London in the late 90’s on scholarship to the Chelsea School of Art and Design, where he attained his MA in Fine Art. (Gyatso studied Chinese Brush Painting in Beijing, attaining a B.F.A. and Thangka (traditional Tibetan scroll painting) in Dharamsla.) He has been living and working in the West ever since; and is the founder of the Sweet Tea House, a contemporary art gallery dedicated to showing Tibetan work, based in London. Gyatso was the recipient of a Leverhelm Fellowship in 2003 and was an artist in residence at Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

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Gyatso’swork has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Israel), The City Gallery (New Zealand), The Institute of Modern Art (Australia), the Rubin Museum of Art (New York) the Chinese National Art Gallery (Beijing), the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art (Scotland), the Courtauld Institute of Art (London), Burger Collection (Switzerland), the Wereldmuseum Rotterdam (Netherlands), and the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (Australia), Additionally he has participated in the the 53rd Venice Biennial (Italy), the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane (Australia) and the 17th Sydney Biennale (Australia). His work is held internationally, in public and private collections.